Industrial scissors

ABSTRACT

The present invention is industrial scissors and a method of manufacturing and using same including first and second scissor halves, each half having a blade, a handle, and first and second major opposed surfaces. Each blade has a first edge that is relatively thick and blunt tapered to a second edge that is sharp to form a cutting edge. Serrations are formed in the cutting edge of the blade having larger radii between the pivot point and the midpoint of the blade and smaller serrations between the midpoint of the blade and the tip of the blade to provide a gripping surface for preventing an object being cut from sliding down the blade toward the tip of the blade while cutting the object. Wire strippers are positioned between the handle and the pivot point of the scissors. A deburring surface is made from a plurality of filing grooves spaced transversely along the blunt side of the blade.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a division of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/188,241, filed Jul. 1, 2002, the entire contents of which isincorporated herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to industrial scissors that can be used tocut a variety of objects, deburr tubes, and strip insulation from avariety of wire sizes. In general, separate tools are used for cutting,deburring and stripping insulation from wires in industrial settings andin the home. There are a wide variety of scissors for cutting objects,deburring tools for filing and wire strippers for removing insulationfrom various wire types and sizes on the market today. A need has arisenfor an improved three-in-one tool that is compact and easy to use.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides for industrial scissors having first andsecond scissor halves with substantially identical dimensional features.The scissors have a unique method for gripping an object and preventingthe object from sliding down a blade on one or both halves towards thetip while cutting the object. Serrations on a cutting edge of the bladehaving a larger radii and/or larger depth between the pivot point andthe midpoint of the blade and serrations on the cutting edge of theblade having smaller radii and/or smaller depth between the midpoint andthe tip of the blade respectively are used for gripping and cuttingobjects such as rounded items that tend to slide away from the cuttingaction. The scissors can be used to cut a wide variety of difficult tocut materials and objects, such as Kevlar® and garage door cables, etc.A plurality of filing grooves spaced transversely apart from each otheralong a blunt edge opposite of the sharp edge of the blade are used fordeburring tubes and the like. A plurality of grooves having aperturesand sharp cutting edges on the ends thereof are positioned between thepivot point and the handle of the scissors for use as wire strippers.The stripping grooves are designed with varying depths and radii so thatinsulation can be stripped from different gauge wires.

A method for manufacturing industrial scissors according to the presentinvention includes the steps of casting a scissor half from metal toform a rough shaped blade, handle, grooves on a blunt side of the blade,and wire stripper grooves between a pivot point and the handle withexcess material to form a pad on the opposite side of the wire strippergrooves. The method includes grinding excess material from the blade andthe wire stripping pad to form the sharp edge on the blade and to formapertures with sharp edges for stripping the insulation from wires ofvarious gauge sizes. The method also includes forming serrations on thesharp edge of the blade of various radii and depths and forming groovesin the blunt side of the blade for deburring tubes and the like.

A method of use for industrial scissors is also disclosed usingserrations in the blade to obtain a strong grip on an object to be cutso that the object will not slide down the blade away from the cuttingedge of the blade as the blades are squeezed together.

Other applications of the present invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art when the following description of the best modecontemplated for practicing the invention is read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The description herein makes reference to the accompanying drawingswherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout theseveral views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of assembled industrial scissors;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of a first half of the scissors of FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of a second half of the scissors of FIG.1; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a scissors' casting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A pair of industrial scissors 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The scissors10 have nearly identical halves 12 and 14, each having a blade 18 and ahandle 20. The only difference between scissor halves 12, 14 is thatscissor half 12 has a round recess 16 on the surface of the blade 18 forallowing a screw 11 with a round head 13 to fit into the recess 16 suchthat the screw head 13 is substantially flush with the outer surface ofthe blade 18. The screw 11 holds the scissor halves 12, 14 together.Scissor half 14 has a hexagonal recess 17 on the outer surface of theblade 18 for allowing a hexagonal nut 15 to thread onto the screw 11 andto be substantially flush with the outer surface of the blade 18. Thehandles 20 can be finger loops or rings, similar in style to traditionalscissors. The loops 20 can be identical for each scissor half 12, 14 sothat the scissors 10 can be used by a right-handed or left-handed user.

FIG. 2 shows a side elevation view of the first scissor half 12. Thefirst scissor half 12 has a blade 18 with a relatively thick blunt edge22 on a first edge tapered down to form a sharp cutting edge 24 on asecond edge. The blade 18 has a midpoint 26 and a tip 28 at the endthereof. The scissor half 12 is pivotally connected at a pivot point 30to the second half 14, positioned between the blade 18 and the handle20, such that as the handles 20 of the scissor halves 12, 14 are drawntogether, the blades 18 of the halves 12, 14 will slide past each otherto produce a cutting action. At pivot point 30 of the scissor half 12, athrough-bore in each scissor half 12, 14 allows the screw 11 to engagethrough each scissor half 12, 14 for holding the scissor halves 12, 14together.

As shown in FIG. 3, the second scissor half 14 has substantiallyidentical dimensional features to that of the first half 12 except thatat pivot point 30, a hexagonal recess 17 is formed in the outsidesurface thereof for allowing a hexagonal nut 15 to fit therein forthreadably engaging the screw 11 to pivotally hold the scissor halves12, 14 together. The hexagonal recess 17 prevents the hexagonal nut 15from rotating in a loosening direction.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a scissor half casting 60. Thecasting 60 has additional material in areas to be finished by subsequentmachining operations. Excess material 62 is cast onto one edge of thescissor half for allowing deburring grooves 36 to be machined into ablunt edge 22. Excess material 64 is cast onto the opposite edge forallowing a sharp edge 24 to be honed and subsequently forming serrations32 and 34 in the blade 18 after the sharpening operation. A pad 39 withgrooves 38 on one side and excess material 68 on the other side is castinto each scissor half 60 between the handle 20 and the pivot point 30.As the excess material 68 is ground down in a machining operation,apertures 40 having sharp edges are exposed on the ends thereof suchthat when two scissor halves are assembled, the grooves 38 on each half12, 14 match up to form wire strippers.

Referring back to FIG. 2, means for gripping an object to prevent theobject from sliding down the blades 18 toward the tips 28 of the blades18 of the scissor halves 12, 14 while cutting the object is provided byforming large radii serrations 32 and small radii serrations 34 on thecutting edges 24 of both blades 18. The serrations 32 which have a largeradii cut optionally at varying depths are located between the pivotpoint 30 and the midpoint 26 of scissors 10 and the small serrations 34with smaller radii cut optionally at smaller depths are located betweenthe midpoint 26 and the tip 28 of the scissors 10.

The scissors 10 have means for deburring tubes and the like. The meansfor deburring tubes is a plurality of filing grooves 36 spacedtransversely apart along the blunt edge 22 of each blade 18.

The scissors 10 include means for stripping insulation from electricalcords or wires without cutting into the wire. The stripping means is aplurality of grooves 38 having apertures 40 with a sharp edge on theends thereof. The stripping grooves 38 are positioned between the pivotpoint 30 and the handles 20 of the scissors 10. The stripping grooves 38have variable radii and depths so that insulation can be cut fromvarious gauge wires. The scissors 10 have means for restricting the wirestrippers from traversing too far and cutting into a wire. Thisrestricting means is a pad 42 attached to each handle 20 that acts as astop when the handles 20 are squeezed together and make contact witheach other.

The preferred material used to form the scissors 10 is stainless steel440C. This material is used because it is oxidation resistant and can beused in surgical areas that require the use of an autoclave for cleaningand disinfecting the scissors 10.

A method for manufacturing industrial scissors 10 includes formingpreferably by casting the scissors 10 from metal to form rough shapedblades 18, handles 20, grooves 36 on a first edge 22 of the blade 18 foruse as a deburrer and wire stripper grooves 38 located between the pivotpoint 30 of the scissors 10 and the handle 20 with excess material toform a pad 42 on the opposite side of the wire stripper grooves 38. Themethod of manufacture further includes grinding excess material from theblades 18 and the wire stripping pad 39 preferably during onemanufacturing operation to form a cutting or grinding edge 24 on theblades 18 and to form apertures 40 with sharp edges for strippinginsulation from wires of various gauge sizes. The next step in themanufacturing process is to machine serrations 32 and 34 into thecutting edge 24 of the blades 18. These serrations 32, 34 are used togrip onto objects that tend to slide away from the blades 18, such asround articles, so that the scissors 10 can cut the objects. Theserrations 32, 34 can be machined with various radii and depths in theblade. Larger serrations 32 are formed from approximately the pivotpoint 30 of the scissors 10 to the blade midpoint 26. Smaller serrations34 are machined from approximately the blade midpoint 26 to the bladetip 28.

A method of use for industrial scissors includes using the serrations 32and 34 on the blade 18 to obtain a strong grip on the object to be cutso that the object will not slide down the blades 18 and away from thecutting edge 24 as the blades 18 are squeezed together.

1. A method of use of industrial scissors having pivotal blade ends eachwith a cutting edge comprising the step of: providing serrations on acutting edge of at least one of the blades; and using certain of theserrations to obtain a strong grip on an object to be cut to prevent theobject from sliding down the blade away from the cutting edge of theblade as the blades are moved together to cut the object.
 2. The methodof claim 1 further comprising the step of: forming the serrations withdifferent radii.
 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the stepof: using first larger radii for gripping large objects.
 4. The methodof claim 2 further comprising the step of: using second smaller radiifor gripping small objects.